Digital mirror systems for vehicles and methods of operating the same

ABSTRACT

Digital mirror systems for vehicles and methods of operating the same are disclosed. An example vehicle control system includes: a driver monitoring system including a head position determiner to determine at least one of a location of a head, an orientation of the head, or an eye gaze point of the head; a digital mirror system including a region-of-interest (ROI) detector to identify an ROI based on the at least one of the location of the head, the orientation of the head, or the eye gaze point of the head, and a cropper to extract a portion of a first image corresponding to the ROI to form a second image, the first image representing an area exterior to the vehicle; and a display within an interior area of the vehicle to present the second image.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to vehicles, and, more particularly,to digital mirror systems for vehicles and methods of operating thesame.

BACKGROUND

A digital mirror system (e.g., a camera monitoring system) for a vehicleis a system that replaces and/or augments the optical mirror(s) of thevehicle. An example digital mirror system includes a camera on theexterior of a vehicle that streams images to one or more displaysmounted inside the vehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example vehicle control system constructed inaccordance with teachings of this disclosure, and shown in an exampleenvironment of use.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating example implementations of theexample digital mirror system and the example driver monitoring systemof FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 3C, 3D and 3E are example illustrations that togetherwith illustrating an example operation of the example digital mirrorsystem of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example digitalmirror system of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example processor platform structured to executethe example machine-readable instructions of FIG. 4 to implement theexample digital mirror system of FIGS. 1 and/or 2.

Wherever beneficial, the same reference numbers will be used throughoutthe drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the sameor like parts. Connecting lines or connectors shown in the variousfigures presented are intended to represent example functionalrelationships, physical and/or logical connections and/or communicationsbetween the various elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Digital mirror systems are becoming popular in modern vehicles such asautomobiles because they are more aerodynamic, provide bettervisibility, etc. than conventional optical mirrors. However, there aredisadvantages of such digital mirror systems. For example, with anoptical mirror, the occupant of the vehicle can change what they areseeing by moving their head and/or eyes. However, with known digitalmirror systems, the view is fixed because the mounting of the exteriorcamera is fixed and, does not adapt with an occupant's movement. Thisprevents known digital mirror systems from providing the natural lookand feel provided by optical mirrors.

To overcome at least these deficiencies, some example digital mirrorsystems disclosed herein monitor, for example, location of an occupant'shead, orientation of the head, eye gaze point of the head (e.g.,direction occupant's eyes are pointed), etc., and use this positionalinformation to control the view(s) presented by a vehicle's digitalcamera system. In some examples, an interior camera (i.e., within aninterior portion, interior area, interior space, etc.) is used tomonitor, for example, the location of the occupant's head, orientationof the head, eye gaze point of the head, etc. The view(s) can be changeddigitally and/or mechanically. In some examples, the view presented by adigital mirror system is adapted to be consistent with the occupant'shead and/or eye movements. In some examples, there are more than onedigital mirror in a vehicle, and the camera(s) associated with thedigital mirror(s) being looked at are adapted. In some such examples,the view changes only for the digital mirror the occupant is gazing at.However, when two digital mirrors (e.g., a normal mirror directly belowa wide-angle mirror for a vehicle), they may be changed at the sametime. In some examples, location of an occupant's head, orientation ofthe head, eye gaze point of the head (e.g., direction occupant's eyesare pointed), etc. are used to identify occupants and automaticallyadapt the digital mirror system 120 to different drivers sharing thesame vehicle at different times. In some examples, small unintentionalmovements (which may be unintentional due to vehicle movements, e.g.,hitting a bump, etc.) do not cause the view to change. Example vehicleswhich may benefit from one or more of the digital mirrors disclosedherein include, but are not limited to, a bicycle, a motorcycle, a car,a bus, a train, a boat, an airplane, etc. Example occupants of suchvehicles include, but are not limited to an operator, a non-operator, adriver, a rider, a passenger, an engineer, a pilot, etc. While examplesdisclosed herein are described in connection with vehicles, theteachings of this disclosure also apply to non-vehicular environments,such as buildings, etc.

Reference will now be made in detail to non-limiting examples, some ofwhich are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment 100 in which an examplevehicle control system 102 constructed in accordance with teachings ofthis disclosure is implemented in an example vehicle 104. In thisexample, the vehicle 104 is a car. To capture images of an example area106 exterior to the car 104, the example vehicle control system 102includes an example exterior camera 108. The example exterior camera 108may be implemented by any type of camera, and may be mounted in any wayto capture images of the example area 106 outside the vehicle. Forexample, the camera 108 can be mounted exterior to the car 104, can bemounted partially within the car 104, can be mounted on an interiorsurface of the car 104, etc. A disclosed example exterior camera 108 hasa range 112 of 20 meters (m), a resolution of 1920 pixels per row, andincludes a lens 202 (see FIG. 2) that provides a field of view (FOV) 110of 80 degrees. A known digital mirror system camera has a range of 20 m,a resolution of 1280 pixels per row, and includes a lens (not shown)that provides a FOV of 60 degrees. The increased FOV provided by thelens 202, and the increased resolution of the disclosed camera 108provides additional pixels for pan/tilt/rotate operations (e.g.,allowing an occupant to set their mirror location) and blind spotalgorithms. The increased FOV and increased resolution of the disclosedcamera 108 additionally, and/or alternatively, enable different portions(one of which is designated at reference numeral 110) of the area 106 tobe presented while maintaining enough pixels within the portion 110 tomeet and/or exceed the pixel density requirements for digital mirrorsystems set by, for example, industry standards, government regulations,etc.

To display images captured by the example exterior camera 108, theexample vehicle control system 102 includes any number and/or type(s) ofexample displays, one of which is designated at reference numeral 116.The example display 116 can be implemented anywhere within the car 104.For example, at a location where an occupant can readily view thedisplay 116 (e.g., near where a side view optical mirror would typicallybe mounted) while interacting with the vehicle control system 102.

In the illustrated example, the exterior camera 108 captures an image ofthe entire area 106. To determine the portion 114 of the area 106 topresent at the display 116, the example vehicle control system 102includes a driver monitoring system 118. The example driver monitoringsystem 118 processes data representing head location of the occupant'shead, orientation of the head, eye gaze point of the head, etc. todetermine the portion 114 that the occupant is intending to view. Insome examples, the portion 114 can be moved left-and-right andup-and-down within the area 106 based on, for example, head location ofthe occupant's head, orientation of the head, eye gaze point of thehead, etc. Thus, although FIG. 1 illustrates a particular position ofthe area 114 relative to the area 106 imaged by the exterior camera 108,the area 114 can be moved relative to the area 106. Based on the portion114 of area 106 determined by the driver monitoring system 118 to be ofinterest, an example digital mirror system 120 crops the image capturedby the exterior camera 108 to just the portion 114 of interest. Exampleimplementations of the example driver monitoring system 118 and theexample digital mirror system 120 are disclosed below in connection withFIG. 2.

To determine the position, angle, eye gaze, etc. of the occupant's head122, the example vehicle control system 102 includes any number and/ortype(s) of example interior cameras, one of which is designated atreference numeral 124. The example interior camera 124 may beimplemented by one or more of an illuminated near infrared camera, avisible light camera, a color camera, a black and white camera, etc. Theinterior camera 124 can be mounted anywhere within the car 104. Forexample, the interior camera 124 may be positioned at a location wherean occupant's head would naturally be positioned when driving thevehicle (e.g., near where a side view optical mirror would be typicallymounted).

While an example vehicle control system 102 is illustrated in FIG. 1,one or more of the elements, processes and/or devices illustrated inFIG. 1 may be combined, divided, re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/orimplemented in any other way. Further, the example exterior camera 108,the example display 116, the example driver monitoring system 118, theexample digital mirror system 120, example interior camera 124, and/or,more generally, the example vehicle control system 102 of FIG. 1 may beimplemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination ofhardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, for example, any of theexample exterior camera 108, the example display 116, the example drivermonitoring system 118, the example digital mirror system 120, exampleinterior camera 124, and/or, more generally, the example vehicle controlsystem 102 could be implemented by one or more analog or digitalcircuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s), programmablecontroller(s), graphics processing unit(s) (GPU(s)), digital signalprocessor(s) (DSP(s)), application specific integrated circuit(s)(ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)), field programmablegate array(s) (FPGA(s)), and/or field programmable logic device(s)(FPLD(s)). When reading any of the apparatus or system claims of thispatent to cover a purely software and/or firmware implementation, atleast one of the example exterior camera 108, the example display 116,the example driver monitoring system 118, the example digital mirrorsystem 120, example interior camera 124, and/or, more generally, theexample vehicle control system 102 is/are hereby expressly defined toinclude a non-transitory computer readable storage device or storagedisk such as a memory, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a compact disc(CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc. including the software and/or firmware.Further still, the example vehicle control system 102 of FIG. 1 mayinclude one or more elements, processes and/or devices in addition to,or instead of, those illustrated in FIG. 1, and/or may include more thanone of any or all the illustrated elements, processes and devices.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating example implementations of theexample driver monitoring system 118 and the example digital mirrorsystem 120 of FIG. 1. To pre-process images 204 captured by the exampleexterior camera 108, the example digital mirror system 120 of FIG. 2includes an example image signal processor 206. Using any number and/ortype(s) of methods, algorithms, etc., the example image signal processor206 of FIG. 2 processes the images 204 to, for example, reduce noise,adjust color balance, etc.

To resize images 208 output by the image signal processor 206, theexample digital mirror system 120 of FIG. 2 includes an example resizer210. Using any number and/or type(s) of methods, algorithms, etc., theexample resizer 210 of FIG. 2 resizes the images 208 to have the samepixel density (e.g., 0.018 meters (m) per pixel) as the images capturedby known digital mirror system cameras. For example, known digitalmirror system cameras capture images that are 1280 pixels across a widthof approximately 23 m (=2*20*tan(30 degrees)), which corresponds to0.018 m per pixel (=23/1280). Some example digital mirror system cameras108 disclosed herein capture images that are 1920 pixels across a widthof approximately 33.5 m (=2*20*tan(40 degrees)), which corresponds to0.0174 m per pixel (=33.5/1920). To obtain the same pixel density, theexample resizer 210 of FIG. 2 resizes the images 208 output by the imagesignal processor 206 to be 1860 pixels across, which yields a pixeldensity of approximately 0.018 m per pixel (=33.5/1860). In someexamples, other pixel densities are used. However, using the noted pixeldensity avoids objects appearing too small in the display 116. Theadditional pixels (580=1860−1280) provided by use of the disclosedexample camera 108 enables the example portion 114 of FIG. 1 to belocated at 580 different horizontal locations in the area 106. Thedifferent horizontal locations enable the portion 114 to be pannedacross the area 106 as the occupant moves their head 122. This panningoccurs, in some examples, in real time,

To obtain portions of output images 212 of the resizer 210, the exampledigital mirror system 120 of FIG. 1 includes an example cropper 214.Based on cropping coordinates 216 of a portion of the area 106 (e.g.,the portion 114), the example cropper 214 crops the images 212,retaining the portion of the images 212 corresponding to the croppingcoordinates 216.

In some examples, the camera 108 cannot be rotated (e.g., moved left andright) and/or tilted (e.g., moved up and down), unlike traditionaloptical mirrors. To provide a virtual tilt and/or a virtual rotation forthe camera 108, the example digital mirror system 120 includes anexample perspective transformer 218. Using any number and/or type(s) ofmethods, algorithms, etc., the example perspective transformer 218 ofFIG. 2 transforms images 220 output by the cropper 214 according to usercontrol inputs 222. The user control inputs 222 may be provided usingany number and/or type(s) of user control interface elements (e.g., afour-directional toggle switch to input tilt up, tilt down, tilt left,and tilt right). In some examples, the perspective transformer 218performs other transforms or image processing including, but not limitedto lens distortion correction, etc. In some examples, the perspectivetransformer 218 is implemented using a dedicated hardware acceleratorsuch as the mesh warp hardware accelerator commercially available fromTEXAS INSTRUMENTS™. The mesh warp hardware accelerator is a dedicatedpixel re-map engine that is part of the imaging subsystem on severalTDA3x and other TDAx devices manufactured by TEXAS INSTRUMENTS, and canbe used to perform a variety of functions including lens distortioncorrection, fish-eye-distortion correction, perspective transform,multi-camera surround view application(s), etc. Outputs 224 of theperspective transformer 218 are presented at the display 116. Examplemesh warp hardware accelerators that can be used to implement theexample perspective transformer 218 are described in “TDA3x SoC forAdvanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), Silicon Revision 2.0, 1.0A,1.0, Texas Instruments ADAS Family of Products, Technical ReferenceManual” Literature Number: SPRUIE7A, June 2017—Revised October 2017, theentirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

To determine the cropping coordinates 216, the example digital mirrorsystem 120 of FIG. 2 includes the example driver monitoring system 118.Using any number and/or type(s) of methods, algorithms, etc., an examplehead position determiner 228 of the example driver monitoring system 118processes images 230 captured by the interior camera 124 to determinedata 232 representing iris recognition, face recognition, face detectionand tracking, an occupant's head location, head orientation, eye gazepoint, etc. Example technologies that may be used to implement thedriver monitoring system 118 includes those described by FOTONATION® atwww.fotonation.com.

An example ROI detector 234 of the example digital mirror system 120 ofFIG. 2 processes the data 232 representing head location of theoccupant's head, orientation of the head, eye gaze point of the head,etc. to determine where the occupant is looking, e.g., their gazedirection. In some examples, the ROI detector 234 performs ray tracingto determine the gaze direction, and identifies a region (e.g., a fieldof view) around (e.g., about, surrounding, encompassing, etc.) the gazedirection as the ROI 216. For example, the region around the gazedirection can be determined to be 1280 pixels wide (which is the numberof pixels output by traditional digital mirror systems), and centered onthe gaze direction. Example technologies that may be used to implementthe ROI detector 234 include those described by FOTONATION® atwww.fotonation.com.

In some examples, to perform additional, and/or alternative analysis,the example digital mirror system 120 includes an example analyticsanalyzer 236. Example analytics that can be performed by the exampleanalytics analyzer 236 of FIG. 2 includes, but is not limited to, blindspot analysis. Because the FOV of the disclosed exterior camera 108 iswider than the camera used with traditional digital mirror systems, theexample analytics analyzer 236 can detect and present more informationto thereby reduce (e.g., eliminate) blind spots over a wider FOV, whichcan improve vehicular safety.

An example operation of the digital mirror system 120 of FIG. 2 will nowbe discussed in connection with example illustrations 302, 304, 306 and308 respectively shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D. The example image 302of FIG. 3A corresponds to the full FOV image 204 captured by theexternal or exterior camera 108 of FIG. 2 when a vehicle in which thedigital mirror system 120 is stationary. The example images 304, 306 and308 of respective FIGS. 3B-3D correspond to different respective crops314, 316 and 318 of the example image 302. The crops 314, 316 and 318correspond to different respective ROIs 324, 326 and 328 of FIG. 3E. Theimages 304, 306 and 308 of FIGS. 3B-3D are successively presented at thedisplay 116 as an occupant moves their head and/or gaze away toward, forexample, the virtual location of a virtual side-view optical mirror. Ascan be seen in FIGS. 3B-3D, what the occupant sees has panned outwardfrom the side of the vehicle.

While an example manner of implementing the digital mirror system 120 ofFIG. 1 is illustrated in FIG. 2, one or more of the elements, processesand/or devices illustrated in FIG. 2 may be combined, divided,re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way.Further, the example image signal processor 206, the example resizer210, the example cropper 214, the example perspective transformer 218,the example driver monitoring system 118, the example head positiondeterminer 228, the example ROI detector 234, the example analyticsanalyzer 236 and/or, more generally, the example digital mirror system120 of FIG. 2 may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/orany combination of hardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, forexample, any of the example image signal processor 206, the exampleresizer 210, the example cropper 214, the example perspectivetransformer 218, the example driver monitoring system 118, the examplehead position determiner 228, the example ROI detector 234, the exampleanalytics analyzer 236 and/or, more generally, the example digitalmirror system 120 of FIG. 2 could be implemented by one or more analogor digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s),programmable controller(s), GPU(s), DSP(s), ASIC(s), PLD(s), FPGA(s),and/or FPLD(s). When reading any of the apparatus or system claims ofthis patent to cover a purely software and/or firmware implementation,at least one of the example image signal processor 206, the exampleresizer 210, the example cropper 214, the example perspectivetransformer 218, the example driver monitoring system 118, the examplehead position determiner 228, the example ROI detector 234, the exampleanalytics analyzer 236 and/or, more generally, the example digitalmirror system 120 is/are hereby expressly defined to include anon-transitory computer readable storage device or storage disk such asa memory, a DVD, a CD, a Blu-ray disk, etc. including the softwareand/or firmware. Further still, the example digital mirror system 120 ofFIG. 2 may include one or more elements, processes and/or devices inaddition to, or instead of, those illustrated in FIG. 2, and/or mayinclude more than one of any or all the illustrated elements, processesand devices.

A flowchart representative of example machine-readable instructions forimplementing the digital mirror system 120 of FIGS. 1 and/or 2 is shownin FIG. 4. In this example, the machine-readable instructions comprise aprogram for execution by a processor such as the processor 512 shown inthe example processor platform 500 discussed below in connection withFIG. 5. The program may be embodied in software stored on anon-transitory computer readable storage medium such as a CD, a floppydisk, a hard disk drive, a DVD, a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associatedwith the processor 512, but the entire program and/or parts thereofcould alternatively be executed by a device other than the processor 512and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware. Further, although theexample program is described with reference to the flowchart illustratedin FIG. 4, many other methods of implementing the example digital mirrorsystem 120 may alternatively be used. For example, the order ofexecution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of the blocksdescribed may be changed, eliminated, or combined. Additionally, and/oralternatively, any or all the blocks may be implemented by one or morehardware circuits (e.g., discrete and/or integrated analog and/ordigital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, a comparator, anoperational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured toperform the corresponding operation without executing software orfirmware.

As mentioned above, the example processes of FIG. 4 may be implementedusing coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machine-readableinstructions) stored on a non-transitory computer and/ormachine-readable medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, aread-only memory, a CD, a DVD, a cache, a random-access memory and/orany other storage device or storage disk in which information is storedfor any duration (e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, forbrief instances, for temporarily buffering, and/or for caching of theinformation). As used herein, the term non-transitory computer readablemedium is expressly defined to include any type of computer readablestorage device and/or storage disk and to exclude propagating signalsand to exclude transmission media.

The program of FIG. 4 begins at block 402 with the digital mirror system120 initializing the exterior camera 108, initializing the cropper 214with a default starting ROI (e.g., a center area of the area 106 or aportion of 106 specified by a user preference), streaming images fromthe exterior camera 108 to the display 116 based on the default startingROI, and starting the driver monitoring system 118 to provide periodic,and/or aperiodically, updates to the cropper 214 (block 402).

The head position determiner 228 periodically, and/or aperiodically,obtains information regarding an occupant's state (e.g., a driver'sstate) (block 404). For example, head location of the occupant's head,orientation of the head, eye gaze point of the head, etc. informationcan be collected from the images 230 gathered by the interior camera124. If the driver is looking at the digital mirror system (e.g., towardthe location of the interior camera 124) (block 406), the head positiondeterminer 228 determines whether the driver's state (e.g., locationand/or orientation) has changed (block 408). If the state change exceedsa threshold (block 410), the driver's state is set to “in motion” (block412), and the ROI detector 234 begins determining ROIs that are used bythe cropper 214 to crop images from the exterior camera 108, and thecropped images are presented at the display 116 (block 414).

If the state change does not exceed a threshold (block 410), and thedriver is already in the “in motion” state (block 416), the driverremains in the “in motion” state (block 412. The ROI detector 234continues determining ROIs that are used by the cropper 214 to cropimages from the exterior camera 108, and the cropped images arepresented at the display 116 (block 414).

Returning to block 416, if the driver was not already in the “in motion”state (block 416), the driver's state is set to “stationary” (block418), new ROI's are not, or no longer, determined (block 420).

Returning to block 408, if the driver's state (e.g., location and/ororientation) has not changed (block 408), the driver's state is set to“stationary” (block 418), new ROI's are not, or no longer, determined(block 420).

Returning to block 406, if the driver is not looking at the digitalmirror system (e.g., toward the location of the camera 124) (block 406),no changes to ROIs and driver state are made.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 500 capableof executing the instructions of FIG. 4 to implement the digital mirrorsystem 120 of FIGS. 1 and 2. The processor platform 500 can be, forexample, a computer, a microcomputer, an embedded controller, or anyother type of computing device.

The processor platform 500 of the illustrated example includes aprocessor 512. The processor 512 of the illustrated example is hardware.For example, the processor 512 can be implemented by one or moreintegrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors, GPUs, DSPs orcontrollers from any desired family or manufacturer. The hardwareprocessor may be a semiconductor based (e.g., silicon based) device. Inthis example, the processor implements the example image signalprocessor 206, the example resizer 210, the example cropper 214, theexample perspective transformer 218, the example driver monitoringsystem 118, the example head position determiner 228, the example ROIdetector 234, and the example analytics analyzer 236.

The processor 512 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 512(e.g., a cache). The processor 512 of the illustrated example is incommunication with a main memory including a volatile memory 514 and anon-volatile memory 516 via a bus 518. The volatile memory 514 may beimplemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random-access Memory (SDRAM), DynamicRandom-access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS® Dynamic Random-access Memory(RDRAM®) and/or any other type of random-access memory device. Thenon-volatile memory 516 may be implemented by flash memory and/or anyother desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory 514, 516is controlled by a memory controller (not shown).

The processor platform 500 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 520. The interface circuit 520 may be implemented byany type of interface standard, such as a controller area network (CANbus), an Ethernet interface, a universal serial bus (USB) interface,etc.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 522 are connectedto the interface circuit 520. The input device(s) 522 permit(s) a userto enter data and/or commands into the processor 512. The inputdevice(s) can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, amicrophone, a camera (still or video) such as the cameras 108 and 124, akeyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball,isopoint and/or a voice recognition system.

One or more output devices 524 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 520 of the illustrated example. The output devices 524 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices such as the display 116(e.g., a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode(OLED), a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathode ray tube display(CRT), an in-plane switching (IPS) display, a touchscreen, etc.) atactile output device, a printer, and/or speakers. The interface circuit520 of the illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphicsdriver card, a graphics driver chip and/or a graphics driver processor.

The processor platform 500 of the illustrated example may also includeone or more mass storage devices 528 for storing software and/or data.Examples of such mass storage devices 528 include floppy disk drives,hard drive disks, CD drives, Blu-ray disk drives, redundant array ofindependent disks (RAID) systems, and DVD drives.

Coded instructions 532 including the coded instructions of FIG. 4 may bestored in the mass storage device 528, in the volatile memory 514, inthe non-volatile memory 516, and/or on a removable tangible computerreadable storage medium such as a CD or DVD.

Digital mirror systems for vehicles and methods of operating the sameare disclosed herein. Further examples and combinations thereof includeat least the following.

Example 1 is a vehicle control system including:

a driver monitoring system including a head position determiner todetermine at least one of a location of a head, an orientation of thehead, or an eye gaze point of the head;

a digital mirror system including

-   -   a region-of-interest (ROI) detector to identify an ROI based on        the at least one of the location of the head, the orientation of        the head, or the eye gaze point of the head, and    -   a cropper to extract a portion of a first image corresponding to        the ROI to form a second image, the first image representing an        area exterior to a vehicle; and

a display within an interior area of the vehicle to present the secondimage.

Example 2 is the vehicle control system of Example 1, wherein the drivermonitoring system includes an interior camera to capture a third imageof the head, the head position determiner is to determine at least oneof the location of the head, the orientation of the head, or the eyegaze point of the head based on the third image, and the digital mirrorsystem includes an exterior camera to capture the first image.

Example 3 is the vehicle control system of Example 2, further including:

a user control to enable a user to configure at least one of a virtualtilt of the exterior camera, or a virtual rotation of the exteriorcamera; and

a perspective transformer to modify the second image to mimic the leastone of the virtual tilt of the exterior camera, or the virtual rotationof the exterior camera.

Example 4 is the vehicle control system of Example 1, wherein

the head position determiner is to determine a gaze direction based onthe at least one of the location of the head, the orientation of thehead, or the eye gaze point of the head, and

the ROI detector is to identify the ROI based on the gaze direction anda field-of-view around the gaze direction.

Example 5 is the vehicle control system of Example 4, wherein the gazedirection is associated with at least one of an operator of a vehicle,or a passenger of the vehicle.

Example 6 is the vehicle control system of Example 4, further includingan analytics analyzer to detect an object in a blind spot based on thefirst image.

Example 7 is the vehicle control system of Example 1, wherein the ROI isat least one of external to the vehicle, internal to the vehicle, orpartially external to the vehicle.

Example 8 is the vehicle control system of Example 1, wherein thedigital mirror system updates what is presented on the displayresponsive to the head gazing toward the display.

Example 9 is the vehicle control system of Example 1, further including:

determining which digital mirror the occupant is gazing at;

updating what is presented on the display associated with the determineddigital mirror in response to a detected change in at least one of thehead position, the head angle or the eye gaze; and

not updating what is presented on a second display associated with asecond digital mirror in response to the detected change.

Example 10 is a vehicle control system including:

an exterior camera to capture a first image of an area exterior to avehicle;

an interior camera to capture a second image of an occupant of thevehicle;

a head position determiner to determine at least one of a location of ahead, an orientation of the head, an eye gaze point of the head, or anorientation of a virtual optical mirror based on the second image;

a region of interest (ROI) detector to determine a gaze direction of theoccupant in the vehicle based on the at least one of the location of thehead, the orientation of the head, the eye gaze point of the head, orthe orientation of the virtual optical mirror, and select afield-of-view around the gaze direction as an ROI;

a cropper to use a portion of the first image corresponding to the ROIto form a third image;

a user control to enable the occupant to configure at least one of avirtual tilt of the exterior camera, or a virtual rotation of theexterior camera;

a perspective transformer to modify the third image to mimic the atleast one of the virtual tilt of the exterior camera, or the virtualrotation of the exterior camera to form a fourth image; and

a display to present the fourth image to an interior area of thevehicle.

Example 11 is the vehicle control system of Example 10, furtherincluding an analytics analyzer to detect an object in a blind spotbased on the first image.

Example 12 is a method including:

determining, by executing an instruction with a processor, a gazedirection of an occupant of a vehicle;

identifying, by executing an instruction with a processor, aregion-of-interest (ROI) based on the gaze direction;

extracting, by executing an instruction with a processor, a portion ofan exterior image to form a cropped image, the portion corresponding tothe ROI; and

presenting the cropped image to an interior of the vehicle.

Example 13 is the method of Example 12, further including:

receiving a user input representing at least one of a virtual tilt of acamera used to capture the exterior image, or a virtual rotation of thecamera; and

modifying, by executing an instruction with a processor, the exteriorimage to mimic the least one of the virtual tilt of the camera, or thevirtual rotation of the camera.

Example 14 is the method of Example 12, further including:

determining, by executing an instruction with a processor, the at leastone of a location of a head, an orientation of the head, or an eye gazepoint of the head based on an image taken of the occupant within thevehicle;

determining, by executing an instruction with a processor, a gazedirection based on the at least one of the location of the head, theorientation of the head, or the eye gaze point of the head; and

identifying, by executing an instruction with a processor, the ROI basedon the gaze direction and a field-of-view around the gaze direction.

Example 15 is the method of Example 14, further including:

identifying, by executing an instruction with a processor, an identityof the occupant based on the at least one of the gaze direction, thelocation of the head, the orientation of the head, or the eye gaze pointof the head; and

adapting how the cropped image is presented based on the identity.

Example 16 is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storinginstructions that, when executed, cause a machine to:

determine a gaze direction of an occupant of a vehicle;

identify a region-of-interest (ROI) based on the gaze direction;

extract a portion of a first image taken of an area external to thevehicle to form a second image, the portion corresponding to the ROI;and

present the second image to an interior of the vehicle.

Example 17 is the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofExample 16, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machineto:

receive a user input representing at least one of a virtual tilt of acamera used to capture the first image, or a virtual rotation of thecamera; and

modify the first image to mimic the least one of the virtual tilt of thecamera, or the virtual rotation of the camera.

Example 18 is the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofExample 16, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machineto:

determining, by executing an instruction with a processor, the at leastone of a location of a head, an orientation of the head, or an eye gazepoint of the head based on an image taken of the occupant within thevehicle; and

determining, by executing an instruction with a processor, a gazedirection based on the at least one of the location of the head, theorientation of the head, or the eye gaze point of the head; and

identifying, by executing an instruction with a processor, the ROI basedon the gaze direction and a field-of-view around the gaze direction.

“Including” and “comprising” (and all forms and tenses thereof) are usedherein to be open ended terms. Thus, whenever a claim lists anythingfollowing any form of “include” or “comprise” (e.g., comprises,includes, comprising, including, having, etc.), it is to be understoodthat additional elements, terms, etc. may be present without fallingoutside the scope of the corresponding claim. As used herein, when thephrase “at least” is used as the transition term in a preamble of aclaim, it is open-ended in the same manner as the term “comprising” and“including” are open ended. Conjunctions such as “and,” “or,” and“and/or” are inclusive unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.For example, “A and/or B” includes A alone, B alone, and A with B. Inthis specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an”and “the” do not exclude the plural reference unless the context clearlydictates otherwise.

Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacturehave been disclosed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is notlimited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope ofthe claims of this patent.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a first camera configuredto capture a first driver image at a first time and a second driverimage at a second time, the first driver image and the second driverimage comprising a view interior to a vehicle; a processor coupled tothe first camera and configured to determine a driver state informationfrom the first driver image and the second driver image by comparing thefirst driver image with the second driver image, wherein the driverstate information comprises at least one of a location of a head, anorientation of the head, an eye gaze point of the head, or anorientation of a virtual optical mirror, wherein the processor isconfigured to, if a driver is looking at a pre-determined location,determine whether an amount of change of the location of the head, theorientation of the head, or the eye gaze point of the head exceeds athreshold; a digital mirror system coupled to the processor, the digitalmirror system including a second camera, and the digital mirror systemconfigured to: compare the driver state information with the threshold;when the driver state information exceeds the threshold: identify aregion-of-interest (ROI) based on the driver state information; if theamount of change exceeds the threshold, set a driver's state flag to inmotion and perform the identify an ROI action; if the amount of changedoes not exceed the threshold and the driver's state flag is set to inmotion, perform the identify an ROI action; and if the amount of changedoes not exceed the threshold, and the driver's state flag is not set toin motion, the identify an ROI action is not performed; and form asecond image by extracting a portion of a first image based on the ROI,the first image captured by the second camera and representing an areaexterior to the vehicle.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the firstcamera is configured to capture an image of an object in the firstdriver image and the second driver image.
 3. The system of claim 2,further including: a user control to enable a user to configure at leastone of a virtual tilt of the second camera or a virtual rotation of thesecond camera; and a perspective transformer to modify the second imageto mimic the least one of the virtual tilt of an exterior camera or thevirtual rotation of the exterior camera.
 4. The system of claim 1,wherein: the processor configured to determine a gaze direction based onthe at least one of the location of the head, the orientation of thehead, or the eye gaze point of the head, and identifying the ROI isbased on the gaze direction and a field-of-view around the gazedirection.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the gaze direction isassociated with at least one of an operator of the vehicle or apassenger of the vehicle.
 6. The system of claim 4, wherein the digitalmirror system is configured to detect an object in a blind spot based onthe first image.
 7. A method, comprising: capturing, by a camera, afirst driver image and a second driver image, the first driver image andthe second driver image comprising a view interior to a vehicle;determining, by a processor, a driver state information from the firstdriver image and the second driver image by comparing the first driverimage with the second driver image, wherein the driver state informationcomprises at least one of a location of a head, an orientation of thehead, an eye gaze point of the head, or an orientation of a virtualoptical mirror, wherein the processor is configured to, if a driver islooking at a pre-determined location, determine whether an amount ofchange of the location of the head, the orientation of the head, or theeye gaze point of the head exceeds a threshold; compare, by a digitalmirror system, the driver state information with the threshold; whereinwhen the driver state information exceeds the threshold: identifying, bythe digital mirror system, a region-of-interest (ROI) based on thedriver state information; if the amount of change exceeds the threshold,set a driver's state flag to in motion and perform an identify an ROIaction; if the amount of change does not exceed the threshold and thedriver's state flag is set to in motion, perform the identify an ROIaction; and if the amount of change does not exceed the threshold, andthe driver's state flag is not set to in motion, the identify an ROIaction is not performed; and generate, by the digital mirror system, asecond image by extracting a portion of a first image based on the ROI,the second image captured by a second camera.
 8. The method of claim 7,further including: receiving a user input representing at least one of avirtual tilt of the second camera used to capture the second image, or avirtual rotation of the second camera; and modifying, by the processor,the second image to mimic the least one of the virtual tilt of thecamera, or the virtual rotation of the camera.
 9. The method of claim 8,wherein: determining a gaze direction based on the at least one of thelocation of the head, the orientation of the head, the eye gaze point ofthe head, or the orientation of the virtual optical mirror; andidentifying the ROI is based on the gaze direction and a field-of-viewaround the gaze direction.
 10. The method of claim 9, further including:identifying, by the processor, an identity of an occupant based on theat least one of the gaze direction, the location of the head, theorientation of the head, or the eye gaze point of the head; and adaptingthe second image based on the identity.
 11. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, whenexecuted, cause a machine to: capture, by a camera, a first driver imageand a second driver image, the first driver image and the second driverimage comprising a view interior to a vehicle; determine, by aprocessor, a driver state information from the first driver image andthe second driver image by comparing the first driver image with thesecond driver image, wherein the driver state information comprises atleast one of a location of a head, an orientation of the head, an eyegaze point of the head, or an orientation of a virtual optical mirror,wherein the processor is configured to, if a driver is looking at apre-determined location, determine whether an amount of change of thelocation of the head, the orientation of the head, or the eye gaze pointof the head exceeds a threshold; compare, by a digital mirror system,the driver state information with the threshold; wherein when the driverstate information exceeds the threshold: identify, by the digital mirrorsystem, a region-of-interest (ROI) based on the driver stateinformation; if the amount of change exceeds the threshold, set adriver's state flag to in motion and perform the identify an ROI action;if the amount of change does not exceed the threshold and the driver'sstate flag is set to in motion, perform the identify an ROI action; andif the amount of change does not exceed the threshold, and the driver'sstate flag is not set to in motion, the identify an ROI action is notperformed; and generate, by the digital mirror system a second image byextracting a portion of a first image based on the ROI, the second imagecaptured by a second camera.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed,cause the machine to: receive a user input representing at least one ofa virtual tilt of the second camera used to capture the first image, ora virtual rotation of the second camera; and modify the first image tomimic the least one of the virtual tilt of the camera, or the virtualrotation of the camera.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause themachine to: determining, by the processor, a gaze direction based on theat least one of the location of the head, the orientation of the head,or the eye gaze point of the head; and identifying, by the processor,the ROI based on the gaze direction and a field-of-view around the gazedirection.